| Summary: | Itaconic anhydride (IAn) was firstly used for the modification of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) by solution blending following with the direct heating treatment, producing end-capped and cross-linkable PPC (PECPPC) with high performance. The reaction of PPC with IAn was detailed investigated and the structure of PECPPC was identified by FTIR and 1H NMR. A facile strategy including end-capping and cross-linking can be developed to improve the performance of PPC. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements revealed that the glass transition temperature (Tg) and thermal decomposition temperature (Td) of PECPPCs are all much higher than those of PPC and increased with the increasing content of IAn. Tensile tests also showed the huge enhancement on the mechanical properties of PPC with the end-capping and cross-linking techniques, and the highest tensile strength of PECPPC4 is 37.5 MPa. Furthermore, ECPPC4 exhibits high hydrolysis rate in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) than that of PPC. It is demonstrated that the strategy with the combination of end-capping and cross-linking is efficient for the perfect modification of PPC with IAn. Keywords: Poly(propylene carbonate), Itaconic anhydride, End-capping, Cross-linking
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